Lara stepped deeper into the CU, the floor-to-ceiling windows sealing out the hum of the Mapo streets. It felt like walking onto a television set; the bright white lights, the rows of colorful packaging, and the organized chaos of the snack aisles were exactly as she had seen in her late-night K-drama marathons back in London.
She looked around and she wandered the aisles, her stomach giving a little impatient kick as she found the "Ramyon" wall. There were only two other people in there. One was a guy at the counter who looked like he'd rather be anywhere else, and the other was a customer just grabbing their change and heading out the door. Nobody looked at her. Nobody gasped. It was perfect—she was just another person out for a late-night snack.
She grabbed two bowl of spicy noodles and a peach tea from the fridge.
Lara clutched her spicy ramyon bowl and peach tea, making her way toward the counter. Min-ho was completely in his own world, his eyes fixed on some invisible point on the dusty counter as his fingers drummed a rhythmic, bored beat. He hadn't even registered the chime of the door over the sound of his own thoughts.
It wasn't until the soft thud of her items hitting the counter that he finally snapped out of it. He looked up, his mouth open to give a standard, robotic greeting, but the words died in his throat.
Min-ho froze. His eyes went wide, and his heart gave a frantic, startled thump against his ribs. It wasn't that he hadn't seen foreigners before, but in this quiet corner of Mapo, they were usually tourists who all looked the same—pale and hurried. standing right in front of him,was Lara Her skin was a deep, beautiful tone he'd only seen on album covers or in Western movies, and her presence was so quiet and elegant it felt like the air in the cramped store had suddenly shifted.
Oh, no, he thought, a wave of pure panic washing over him. English. I have to speak English. He cursed himself inwardly, a string of colorful Korean frustrated thoughts running through his head. Min-ho, you idiot! Why did you sleep through middle school English? Why did you play games instead of learning to say anything besides "Apple" and "Fine, thank you"? He felt a hot prickle of embarrassment crawling up his neck. He was terrified that his stunned silence would look like he was being rude , He desperately wanted to show her he was friendly, but his brain felt like a computer that had just crashed. He opened his mouth, trying to force out a "Hello," but his tongue felt like lead. He just stood there, looking startled and slightly overwhelmed.
Lara smiled inwardly,she saw emotions flicker across his face—the shock, the frantic mental math, and the deep, visible embarrassment. She knew that look. She had felt it herself a thousand times in rooms where she felt like she didn't belong.
Taking pity on him, she offered a small, gentle smile that reached her eyes.
"Annyeonghaseyo," she said softly, her voice steady. "I-geos-eun eolmayeyo? (How much is this?)"
The tension snapped out of Min-ho's shoulders instantly. He let out a long, audible breath, his face breaking into a look of such intense gratitude it was almost comical.
"Oh! Oh, thank you!" he blurted out in Korean, his voice cracking slightly with relief. "You speak Korean! I was... I was so worried. I thought I was going to have to use sign language. My English is... it's really, really bad." He laughed, a nervous, human sound that made the whole interaction feel real and warm. "I'm so sorry if I looked surprised, I just— I didn't want to mess up and say something stupid."
Lara smiled at him ,"""" I noticed she said softly
Geuraedo yeong-eo jogeum-eun ara-deud-jyo?
{but you do understand little English right ?}
Ah… ne… (Yes…)" he managed to choke out, his voice cracking like a middle-schooler's
Lara smiled at him and in that moment ,
He felt a sudden, intense wave of shyness wash over him. It wasn't just the "foreigner" shock anymore; it was the "beautiful girl" shock. His heart started thumping a frantic rhythm against his ribs, and he felt his ears begin to burn. Within seconds, the heat traveled down to his cheeks, turning his face a vivid, hot red that clashed horribly with his store uniform.
She's... she's way too pretty, he thought, his eyes darting down to the ramyon bowl because he couldn't maintain eye contact for more than a second without feeling like he was going to melt.
He quickly grabbed the scanner, his movements now energized and eager to be helpful, his previous boredom forgotten in the excitement of meeting someone so unexpected.
....He started scanning her peach tea over and over again by mistake, his brain completely short-circuiting.
Don't be an idiot, Min-ho, he screamed at himself mentally. Say something! Anything! Just don't let her think you're a weirdo.
He cleared his throat, trying to regain his dignity. "Your… your Korean is very good," he said, his voice trembling slightly. ""Did you… did you move here? To this neighborhood?" he asked, finally managing to look up.
Lara's voice was smooth, like a song he couldn't quite get out of his head. "Ne," she replied, nodding gently. "Business trip-eulo wasseoyo. (I'm here on a business trip.) I'll be staying here for a while."
I'm Lara," she added, extending a hand slightly before realizing that might be too Western. She settled for a graceful tilt of her head.
The boy straightened his store vest, trying to look taller and more mature than a nineteen-year-old working the night shift. "I'm Min-ho," he said, finally finding his voice. "Kim Min-ho. It's... it's really nice to meet you, Lara-ssi."
He handed her the bag of ramyon and peach tea ,Lara took the bag from Min-ho, her fingers grazing his for a fraction of a second. She felt the slight tremor in his hand and couldn't help but offer a soft, genuine smile. "Thank you," she said, her voice like silk.
She was about to ask him a question,when a sudden thud came from the back aisle. A girl in a massive, puffy hoodie was trying to tip-toe toward the door, her pockets bulging with noodle packs.
"Yah! Kim Jisoo!" Minho barked, his "bored worker" mask falling off instantly. "Are you serious? Put them back!"
The girl, who looked about the same age with min ho, turned around with the most dramatic pout Lara had ever seen. "It's Mom's store, Minho! You're so annoying! I'm hungry!"
There's food at home and you know that ,you keep doing this and it's beginning to annoy me ,I'm really going to tell mom this time .
But I don't wanna eat that ,she said pouting her lips .
Lara stood there, watching them bicker, They were loud, they were annoying each other, and they were clearly everything to each other. It hit her right in the heart. As an only child who grew up in a house that was always too quiet, seeing this messy, loud sibling love made her chest ache with a weird kind of envy. She couldn't help it—she let out a genuine, bubbly laugh.
The girl, Jisoo, stopped mid-shout. She hadn't even realized someone else was in the store. She looked at Lara and her eyes went wide. Like, cartoon wide.
"Omo!" she gasped, her hand flying to her mouth.
The sound of Lara's laughter acted like a "pause" button on the sibling rivalry. Ji-soo froze mid-pout, her head snapping toward the counter. Because she'd been so focused on her "noodle heist," she hadn't even realized there was another person in the store.
Her jaw dropped. Ji-soo didn't see a stranger or a foreigner; she saw a clear skin tone ,due to having alot of teenage breakouts ji soon has been obsessed with getting a clear skin tone free from acne. She was instantly fascinated by Lara's skin—how deep and rich the tone was, yet so flawless and smooth it looked like polished silk under the store's bright lights. Ji-soo, who spent half her life fighting teenage breakouts, was mesmerized.
"Omo!" Ji-soo gasped, her hand flying to her mouth. She didn't care about their different backgrounds; she just saw a face with no acne
"Unnie, your skin is amazing! It's like crystal. What do you use? Is it a special soap? Please tell me it's a special soap!"
As Ji-soo tried to bridge the gap between them, her English came out in a bouncy, high-energy rush. It was heavily accented,while her brother's English was frozen by shyness, Ji-soo's was fueled by sheer confidence.
She spoke with that distinct Korean rhythm where every syllable was punched with equal force. To her, "beautiful" wasn't a flowing word; it was "Beau-ti-pul-eu!", the "f" sound replaced by a sharp, popping "p" and a soft "u" tacked onto the end.
When she asked Lara if she was a model, it came out as "Unnie... mo-del-eu? Jin-jja? Waaaa-oh!"
Even though her grammar was a chaotic mix of school-book phrases and slang she'd picked up from the internet, she actually knew far more words than her brother. She just squeezed them through a thick Mapo accent that turned "store" into "seu-to-uh" and "thank you" into a melodic "Ten-kyu-be-ri-muchi!"
Lara found it incredibly charming. It reminded her of the way people back home in London had different pockets of slang and accents, but here, it was wrapped in such genuine, wide-eyed wonder
Ji-soo was off, the words spilling out of her like a waterfall. She clearly loved to talk. "I'm Ji-soo, by the way—the pretty twin! This grumpy one is Min-ho. Don't mind him, he's just embarrassed because he's bad at English. Are you a model? You have to be! Have you tried the honey-butter chips yet? They're life-changing. Oh! And you have to be careful with that ramyon, the spice level is a trap!"
Lara stood there, her eyes crinkling as she listened to the girl rattle on about everything and nothing. In London, people hardly spoke to her, but Ji-soo spoke with a raw, bubbly honesty that was refreshing.
"I'm Lara," she managed to say during a tiny gap in Ji-soo's chatter.
"Lara-unnie!" Ji-soo chirped, liking the sound of it. "Do you live nearby? You look like a tourist."
Lara smiled, feeling a genuine warmth. "I'm staying not too far from here for work. I'll be around for a while."
Ji-soo looked like she wanted to ask a hundred more questions—about Lara , about makeup, about skincare about whether Lara liked K-pop—but Lara noticed the time. The quiet of the night was deepening, and she knew she couldn't stay away from the apartment forever.
"It was so nice to meet you both," Lara said, picking up her bag of food, and giving a polite bow.
"But I really have to go now."
"Already?" Ji-soo pouted, her oversized hoodie sleeves flopping as she waved. "Fine, but you have to come back! I'll save the best snacks for you! Bye, Unnie!"
Min-ho gave a shy, silent nod, his face still a bit pink, while Ji-soo continued to wave frantically through the glass. Lara pushed open the door, the ding-dong chime bidding her person-to-person farewell. As she started her journey back through the dim streets of Mapo, she felt a little less like a ghost and a little more like she belonged.
As the glass door clicked shut and Lara's figure disappeared into the shadows of the Mapo street, the peaceful atmosphere inside the store vanished instantly.
Min-ho turned toward his sister, his face dropping the shy, starstruck mask. "Your English is very bad, Ji-soo," he muttered, crossing his arms and letting out a judgmental huff.
Ji-soo's jaw dropped in mock offense. "Yah! At least I tried!" she shrieked, her voice hitting that high, piercing twin register. "I know a few words! What about you? You just stood there like a red-faced statue! You couldn't even say a simple greeting in English. 'He-lo?' Was that too hard for your big brain?"
She started launching into a string of playful, rapid-fire Korean curses, calling him a "useless stone" and a "shame to the family" for not being able to speak little English when he mom paid so much for his classes ,when Min-ho let out a smug, dry chuckle.
"You're an idiot," he said, leaning back against the cigarette display. "She speaks Korean, Ji-soo. Fluently."
The store went silent. Ji-soo froze, her hand still in the air. "What?"
"She spoke to me the whole time in Korean," Min-ho said, his voice dripping with satisfaction. "She's probably laughing at you and your broken English
Ji-soo's face turned a shade of red that rivaled Min-ho's earlier blush. "Yah! Kim Min-ho! Why did you let me strain my brain like that?! I was literally sweating trying to remember words from third grade!" She let out a frustrated scream and lunged for him. "You let me look like a fool in front of her
I'm going to kill you today ,""""""""
She started chasing him around the narrow aisles, her oversized hoodie flapping behind her like a cape. Min-ho ducked behind the beverage fridge, laughing as she swiped at him with a bag of chips.
"It was funny! You sounded like a malfunctioning robot!"
"I'm going to kill you!" she yelled, her sneakers squeaking on the linoleum.
"YAH! KIM MIN-HO! KIM JI-SOO!"
A sharp, booming voice sliced through the chaos. Both twins stopped dead in their tracks. Standing at the back door that led to the storage room was their mother, her hair in a tight bun and her arms crossed over her apron. She looked like she hadn't slept in a week, and her eyes were fixed on the soda bottle still sitting on the floor.
"Is this a convenience store or a playground?" she barked. "Min-ho, the inventory is short! Ji-soo, why are you even here? Pack up! Now! If I see one more noodle pack out of place, you're both working the 4 AM shift tomorrow!"
The twins instantly transformed. Min-ho scrambled back to the register, and Ji-soo began frantically grabbing the "stolen" snacks she'd dropped, both of them muttering "Yes, Umma!" in perfect, terrified unison.